Race helps trainer cope with girl’s brain issue
Jacob McKay was rocked to learn his daughter Isabelle had a rare disorder
A young horse trainer has a special motivation off the track which has helped him prepare for one of New Zealand’s richest races today.
Matamata trainer Jacob McKay has been helping get Aalaalune, a 2-yearold grey filly, ready for the Karaka Million at Ellerslie today. The race comes at a time when McKay, 25, has been in need of a lift.
Just a few months ago his daughter Isabelle, 16 months, was diagnosed with a rare disorder, hemimegalencephaly, which affects her brain and causes frequent seizures.
The diagnosis threw McKay’s life, and that of his former partner, into disarray.
“It’s been an awful few months, really,” McKay told the Weekend Herald.
The disorder meant one part of Isabelle’s brain was slightly bigger than the remainder. She developed normally until about 10 months old but then the seizures began. At one stage she had up to 20 a day.
Doctors tried medication, but when nothing appeared to work the family opted for a hemispherectomy to disconnect the side of her brain driving the seizures.
McKay said his little girl might have some physical disability as a result of the surgery, but it would enable her to lead a more normal, independent life.
“She’s progressing as well or better than expected since the operation and has been back to her happy self,” he said.
Training Aalaalune while coping with issues in his personal life had been a balancing act, but McKay believed working towards a goal helped him through.
“Getting up each morning was just made that little bit easier, having a target coming up rather than just feeling like I was battling away for nothing.
“Obviously the race doesn’t change what’s happened or what she has to go through, but it’s given me a boost at a hard time.”
McKay has been surrounded by horses since he was a tot — his dad is the first-ever winner of the Karaka Million, a feature race for 2-year-olds.
His parents tried to keep him and his brother away from the world of racing, but by their mid-teens they were well involved through their own accord.
“At some point we both fell in love with it and decided that’s what we wanted to do with our lives,” McKay said.
His brother was a jockey, while
Getting up each morning was just made that little bit easier, having a target. Jacob McKay
McKay was into his third year as an independent horse trainer.
A turning point came for the 25-year-old around a year ago when he met Lotto winner and avid horse racer Lou Te Keeti, Aalaalune’s owner. Te Keeti was looking for horses to buy while McKay was helping sell them.
“I didn’t know he’d won the Lotto or anything when I first met him — I just kept chatting to him, figuring you never know where business is going to come from,” McKay said.
McKay had no idea he was talking to a multimillionaire, but said the discovery didn’t change anything.
“The fact that he’s got money or whatever doesn’t worry me. I really appreciate that he’s given me a chance.”
McKay said today’s race would be a family affair. His brother was Aalaalune’s jockey and his parents would be there, too.